The Turning Pointe

Aaron Spelling shouldn't break out the champagne just yet. In a bid to boost ratings and avoid cancellation, the WB's soap-within-a-soap satire, Grosse Pointe, during February sweeps will feature a parade of celebrity guest stars, including

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Priestley and Sex and the City vamp Kristin Davis. But series creator Darren Star is working on what would be the casting coup to end all casting coups.

"Shannen [Doherty] wants to come on the show," Star tells TV Guide Online of the former Beverly Hills, 90210 and current Charmed star, whose bad-girl rep inspired Grosse Pointe's resident diva Hunter (Irene Molloy). "We've spoken, and she'd like to do something and we'd like to find something for her, but she's been pretty booked with Charmed. I have a feeling next year we'll find something for her."

Well, that's if there's a next year. Despite being one of the most buzzed about new shows of the season, Grosse Pointe can't seem to make a significant dent in the Nielsens. (The WB moved it from Fridays to Sundays, and its ratings have never been worse.) Star is hoping that a little stunt casting may be just the shot in the arm the show needs.

"I feel like people that watch it really love it and get it, and I think the problem is getting people to see it," Star explains, adding that viewers don't really know what to make of the series. "The fun of the show for me is that even though it's spoofing a soap, it still can have tiny little elements of a soap  but in more of a comedic way."

And as the show continues to evolve, Star admits that, while initially conceived as a 90210 parody, it's developing an identity all its own. And this is no more evident than with Grosse Pointe's Marcy (Lindsay Sloane), whose resemblance to Tori Spelling drew fire from her father, Aaron (and led Star to make some subtle changes), but who now stands as the comedy's most richly drawn character.

"Satire only works to a certain point," admits the former 90210 producer, who says he was "dumbfounded" by Spelling's protests. "The intention was always that these characters would take on their own identities, and I believe that they have."